Men convicted of soliciting sex in San Diego can complete a three-hour diversion class and erase prostitution from future background checks. After completing the class, their convictions are reduced to disturbing the peace.

San Diego police officers Luis Roman and Mike Fish, at right, process a man, at left, for the city's Prostitution Impact Panel Feb. 25. The program is attended by men convicted of soliciting sex.

San Diego resident Jessie Sergent describes how prostitution harms CIty Heights, surrounding neighborhoods and the families who live there. She was a volunteer panelist during the city's recent Prostitution Impact Panel.

An offender sits in a room by himself before a Prostitution Impact Panel gets under way in San Diego. A sign greeting men reminds them to provide a $200 cashier's check or money order for the class.

Social worker Beverly Fisher was one of several panelists addressing offenders at San Diego's Prostitution Impact Panel on Feb. 25. She warned men about the dangers involved with prostitution. Most of the evening's panelists were volunteers.

San Diego Deputy City Attorney Lara Easton hands out survey forms following a Prostitution Impact Panel Feb. 25. The program urges men convicted of soliciting sex to not reoffend.

San Diego Deputy City Attorney Lara Easton passes out certificates to 28 men who completed an educational class about the impacts of prostitution. Each man had been convicted of soliciting sex. The certificates must be shown to the court in order for the men's convictions to be reduced.

Offenders watch a video narrated by a prostitute about dangers in the underground industry. So-called "johns" attended a Prostitution Impact Panel in San Diego on February 25.

At a conference room entrance, informational brochures and photographs warn men about the risks of receiving sexually transmitted diseases from prostitutes.

Longtime San Diego community advocate Jessie Sergent, a resident of the City Heights community, tells offenders how prostitution harms her neighborhoods and the families who live there. She was a volunteer panelist during a recent Prostitution Impact Panel held in San Diego.

A man quietly waits for San Diego's Prostitution Impact Panel to begin on Feb. 25. He was joined by 27 other men convicted of soliciting sex. The program aims to educate men about prostitution and convince them not to reoffend.

Former prostitute and recovered drug addict Kathi Hardy is overcome with emotion as she implores men convicted of soliciting sex to change their behavior. She recounted numerous cases of pain suffered by women working for pimps. San Diego's diversion program is an example of using intervention strategies to curb demand for prostitution.

Informational brochures are available for offenders attending the Prostitution Impact Panel in San Diego. The classes are held several times a year.

SAN DIEGO – Officer Luis Roman, standing before 28 men in a windowless community room, repeatedly tried to emphasize one point.

“We don’t judge you for what you did,” he said. “We’re all humans. We make mistakes. What we need to learn is not to make it again.”

Each man had been convicted, for the first time, of soliciting sex. Some had tried picking up women on the street. Police said others had arranged dates online and unknowingly walked into sting operations.

Sex, cash and the law brought this eclectic group together, men who appeared to come from all walks of life. They wore muddied boots, Air Jordans, loafers and plain white sneakers. They were young and gray-whiskered.

And they shared a goal: By completing this three-hour diversion class, they could erase an embarrassing mark of prostitution from future background checks. Instead, their records would show a disturbing the peace conviction.

For one 26-year-old attendee, the choice was obvious. He has two children with a longtime girlfriend in San Diego but “no papers.” Not completing the class, he said, could mean deportation.

“I don’t know what I was thinking in that moment,” the man said. “What they said I did, it was the truth.”

Each man was told in advance that a reporter and photographer would be shadowing the class. All 28 asked that their faces not be shown in photos, and those interviewed asked that their names not be used.

Still, the air was uncomfortable. Wives dropped off husbands. Men slouched in chairs or stared at the floor. Two guys rocked back and forth with bloodshot eyes.

Few attendees spoke; they weren’t required to, though. Prosecutors just wanted them to sit back, listen and learn about the impacts of the low-level crime they had committed. Police and the courts had done their part. This was a voluntary intervention.

Similar classes are offered to first-time offenders in Los Angeles, San Francisco and dozens of other cities across the nation. Often called “john schools,” the programs aim to deter men from trying to buy sex and thereby reduce overall demand for prostitution.

In Orange County, law enforcement agencies have tried many ways of curbing prostitution, but the idea of a john school hasn’t gained much traction. Area police rarely arrest men on suspicion of solicitation, and prosecutors rarely receive the cases. The vast majority of arrests are women.

Although police have primarily led enforcement strategies to curb prostitution, authorities steered questions about the john school concept to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors normally organize the program in other places.

Santa Ana police have sent by far the most prostitution cases to the District Attorney’s Office in recent years. Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said the john school concept sounded interesting and could be worth examining.

However, Bertagna added, that review should be spearheaded by the district attorney and the courts. If they pushed Santa Ana police for participation, “there is no doubt we would look at the program and assist them in any way we could,” he wrote in an email.

In previous interviews about strategies to reduce prostitution, Orange County District Attorney Chief of Staff Susan Schroeder has said that the office provides a better option than a john school and that it cuts crime by reducing repeat offenders.

If men accused of solicitation provide a DNA sample to the District Attorney’s Office and complete a six-hour or 12-hour program, prosecutors will agree to drop the charges against them. Like a john school, the program allows men to have solicitation erased from their criminal records.

But unlike a john school, the district attorney’s program isn’t focused on educating men about prostitution. The Orange County class covers many different topics and includes many different kinds of offenders, not only men accused of solicitation.

PROSTITUTION 101

In San Diego, the father of two recalled the night he tried picking up a streetwalker and was caught by police. He was driving home from work, and a female pedestrian waved him down.

“I live around the corner,” he said. “Every time I turn they walk up to me. I just try to stay away from problems.”

But that night he caved. The woman got into his car, and he parked a block away. Then, he said, police lights flashed behind him and the pedestrian identified herself as an undercover officer.

The man said he hasn’t told his longtime girlfriend about the conviction. By completing the diversion class, he hopes she will never learn about that night and he can put the incident behind him. “It was a mistake,” he said.

Roman, the San Diego police officer, said this is a familiar story among attendees. The guys with families seem to take the classes to heart.

“That’s all it needs sometimes is one eye-opener like this,” Roman said. “The point is not to shame them. The point is to educate them and show it’s not a victimless crime.”

Prostitution can be consensual between two adults. But experts say the industry is ripe with exploitation and attracts more serious problems like robbery and murder into the community.

A former prostitute told the 28 men about being raped and assaulted on the streets. A San Diego vice sergeant talked about the intertwining relationship among prostitutes, pimps and street gangs.

“You guys are bringing and strengthening the criminal element here,” the vice sergeant, who requested anonymity because he works undercover, told the men. “You guys are giving them money.”

Three recovering sex addicts told the men about turning their lives around through therapy.

One San Diego resident talked about finding used condoms on her lawn and fearing neighborhood children would be solicited for sex.

And at the end, the men viewed a graphic presentation about sexually transmitted diseases. Aside from getting caught by police or assaulted by prostitutes, the men were told, they were risking lifelong discomfort or worse.

Several guests observed the class. Among them was Eric Christiansen, a deputy at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. He wants to expand the program to Vista, a small suburb about 40 miles north of downtown San Diego.

Although deputies arrest just a few dozen men for solicitation in Vista each year, Christiansen said he is interested in testing out the john school concept. He said the current penalties seemed inadequate.

“It’s one thing to get caught, pay my fine and be on my way. That’s not going to solve this problem,” Christiansen said. “You are the problem, guys. That’s one of the messages we want to send.”

DO JOHN SCHOOLS WORK?

Measuring the impact of any crime-fighting strategy is tricky. With john schools, researchers have generally examined the frequency of repeat offenses.

One of the most commonly cited studies examined San Francisco’s program. In 2008, researchers found the rate of repeat offenses had dropped by 40 percent among men who completed the john school.

“The program is effective in producing positive shifts in attitudes and gains in knowledge,” the study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, concluded. “More importantly, the program was found to have reduced recidivism.”

Supporters heralded the study as validation of the program, but skeptics argued its value remains unclear or insignificant. The study, skeptics note, showed that john schools target a population where repeat offenses are already uncommon.

Among first-time offenders, the study found about 8.8 percent of men who didn’t complete the john school reoffended within one year. That’s slightly more than the 4.5 percent of men who did complete the program and then reoffended.

In San Diego, the rate of repeat offenses is similarly low among men who complete the class. Out of 808 graduates between 2002 and 2011, organizers said, about 3.5 percent were later caught for the same crime, a similar crime or a more serious sex crime.

But organizers haven’t examined a control group like the San Francisco study. They don’t know the number of repeat offenses among men who didn’t attend the class. It’s possible that merely arresting the men, or some other step in the legal process, affected their behavior.

Despite these questions, however, john schools have become popular among cities. They can be financially self-sustaining through mandatory fees and don’t seem to be hurting anyone. At the very least, they bring law-enforcement authorities, victim advocates and residents together to address a shared concern.

One deputy city attorney organizes San Diego’s class with the assistance of police and several volunteers. Attendees pay $200, which covers the operational costs: paper handouts, pencils and a few public employee salaries.

In written feedback forms, the men who completed the class also seemed to appreciate the opportunity. Some encouraged organizers to expand the program, offer classes in Spanish and add voices like a former pimp to the panel.

“The panel was great,” one man wrote. “You could see the pain as they told their story, and the willingness to want to help others.”

Keegan Kyle is an investigative reporter at The Orange County Register. He covers public safety and local government issues. What should he write about next?

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